ARETAEUS

aretaeus, of cappadocia, a greek physician, who lived at rome in the second half of the 2nd century a.d. we possess two treatises by him, each in four books, in the ionic dialect: _on the causes and indications of acute and chronic diseases, and on their treatment_. his work was founded on that of archigenes; like him, he belonged to the eclectic school, but did not ignore the theories of the "pneumatics," who made the heart the seat of life and of the soul. editions by kuhn (1828), ermerius (1848). english translations: wigan (1723); moffat (1786); reynolds (1837); adams (1856). see locher, _aretaeus aus kappadocien_ (1847). aretas (arab. haritha), the greek form of a name borne by kings of the nabataeans resident at petra in arabia, (i) a king in the time of antiochus iv. epiphanes (2 mace. v. 8). (2) the father-in-law of herod antipas (jos. _ant._ xviii. 5. 1, 3), in 2 cor. xi. 32 he is described as ruler of damascus (q.v.) at the time of paul's conversion. herod antipas had married a daughter of aretas, but afterwards discarded her in favour of herodias. this led to a war with aretas in which antipas was defeated. an aretas is mentioned in 1 macc. xv. 22, but the true reading is probably ariarathes (king of cappadocia). see nabataeans. arete (o. fr. _areste_, lat. _arista_, ear of corn, fish-bone or spine), a ridge or sharp edge; a french term used in switzerland to denote the sharp bayonet-like edge of a mountain (such as the matterhorn), that slopes steeply upward with two precipitous sides meeting in a long ascending ridge. hence the word has passed into common use to denote any sharp mountain edge denuded by frost action above the snowline, where the consequent angular ridges give the characteristic "house-roof structure" of these altitudes. arethas (c. 860-940), byzantine theological writer and scholar, archbishop of caesarea in cappadocia, was born at patrae. he was the author of a greek commentary on the apocalypse, avowedly based upon that of andrew, his predecessor in the archbishopric. in spite of its author's modest estimate, arethas's work is by no means a slavish compilation; it contains additions from other sources, and especial care has been taken in verifying the references. his interest was not, however, confined to theological literature; he annotated the margins of his classical texts with numerous scholia (many of which are preserved), and had several mss. copied at his own expense, amongst them the codex clarkianus of plato (brought to england from the monastery of st john in patmos), and the dorvillian ms. of euclid (now at oxford). most divergent opinions have been held as to the time in which arethas lived; the reasons for the dates given above will be found succinctly stated in the article "aretas," by a. julicher in pauly-wissowa's _realencyclopadie der klassischen altertumswissenschaft_ (1896). the text of the commentary is given in migne, _patrologia graeca_, cvi.; see also o. gebhardt and a. harnack, _texte und untersuchungen zur geschichte der altchristlichen litt._ i. pp. 36-46 (1882), and _vita euthymii_ (patriarch of constantinople, d. 917), ed. c. de boor (1888); h. wace, _dictionary of christian biography_, i.; c. krumbacher, _geschichte der byzantinischen litteratur_ (1897); g. heinrici in herzog-hauck, _realencyklopadie_ (1897).